‘Chicago Fire’: Inside Lauren German’s Explosive Exit Before Joining ‘Lucifer’

Lauren German has been portraying Chloe Decker on Lucifer since the show first launched in 2016. But, before joining the supernatural series, she starred in the first two seasons of Chicago Fire. The actor left the NBC drama at the top of Season 3, and her exit was literally explosive.

In the Season 3 premiere, German’s character, Leslie Shay, alongside the others at Firehouse 51, enters a burning building. When she and fellow paramedic Gabby Dawson (Monica Raymund) happen upon an injured male, they began to give him treatment. At one point, Dawson asked Shay to trade places with her so that the latter can administer treatment. Then, tragedy occurrs as an explosion took place in the building. The explosion blows Dawson back and causes a pipe to land on Shay’s head, fatally injuring her. While Dawson and Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) tried to revive her, they weren’t able to. Shay’s death came as a shock to Chicago Fire fans, as she was one of the original cast members on the show.

Following the episode, which aired in September 2014, executive producer Matt Olmstead spoke to TVLine and revealed why they chose to kill German’s character. He explained that the production team wanted the death to be of the greatest impact to the remaining characters, which is why they decided that Shay would be the one to fall victim to the explosion. Olmstead explained, “Going into it, we knew if we were going to do it, it had to be someone who was going to give us a big impact, as opposed to going for a lesser-known character, which would equate to a pulled punch. So, as opposed to approaching it with timidity, we thought we’d go for it.” Shortly after her departure, German penned a message to her fans on Twitter and shared some kind words about her time on Chicago Fire.

“Hello beautiful people! I want to say thank you to NBC, Dick Wolf and the entire team for letting me be a part of such an amazing experience,” German wrote, per CarterMatt.com. “I have to say I’ve never been around a more gifted, special, heartfelt, funny and loving cast and crew as with the CF gang. The show gave me so many priceless gifts. I’m forever grateful. I mostly want to thank the fans for their support and love on this journey. You all are so beautiful. It was a great honor to portray Shay.”